Max Richter
 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (August 2008) |
Max Richter |
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Max Richter (born 1966) is a German-born British composer.
Biography
Richter studied composition and piano at University of Edinburgh, the Royal Academy of Music, and with Luciano Berio in Florence. After finishing his studies, Richter co-founded the contemporary classical ensemble Piano Circus. He stayed with the group for ten years, commissioning and performing works by Arvo Pärt, Brian Eno, Philip Glass, Julia Wolfe and Steve Reich. The ensemble was signed to Decca/Argo, producing five albums.
In 1996, Max collaborated with Future Sound of London on their album Dead Cities.He began as a pianist but ended up working on several tracks, as well as co-writing one track (titled "Max").[1] Richter subsequently collaborated with FSOL over a period of two years, also contributing to the albums The Isness[2] and The Peppermint Tree and Seeds of Superconsciousness.[3]
In 2000, Richter collaborated with Mercury Prize winner Roni Size on the Reprazent album In the Mode.[4]
In 2005, Richter produced the Vashti Bunyan album Lookaftering. Richter produced the Kelli Ali album Rocking Horse in 2008.
Solo work
In 2002, Richter released his debut solo album Memoryhouse, an experimental album of “documentary music” recorded with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, which explores real and imaginary stories and histories. It combined ambient sounds, voices, and poetry readings. The album went out of print several years later, but was re-released in 2009. Four tracks (“Europe, After the Rain”, “The Twins (Prague)”, “Fragment“, and “Embers”) were used in the six-part 2005 BBC documentary Auschwitz: The Nazis and the ‘Final Solution’ produced by Laurence Rees. Richter's next solo work "The Blue Notebooks" (2004) consisted of sparse musical soundscapes interspersed with Tilda Swinton’s readings of excerpts from Kafka’s 'Blue Octavo'. 'Songs from Before' (2006) evokes lost histories, punctuated by Robert Wyatt’s distinctive, understated readings of Haruki Murakami’s texts He released his fourth solo album 24 Postcards in Full Colour in 2008. The album is collection of 24 brief, classically composed miniatures for ring tones. The pieces are a series of variations on the basic material, scored for strings, piano and electronics.[5]
Film scores
In 2006, Richter's tracks "On the Nature of Daylight" and "Horizon Variations" were used in Marc Forster's film Stranger than Fiction. "On the Nature of Daylight" was also included in the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese's 2010 film Shutter Island.
In 2007, Richter wrote the score to Waltz with Bashir, an animated documentary by Ari Folman. His first U.S. performance was on November 28 at the Good-Shepherd Faith Church, New York, as part of the Wordless Music Series.[citation needed]
In 2009, Richter composed the scores for Feo Aladag's film Die Fremde (together with Stéphane Moucha) and for Renato De Maria's film La prima linea. Memoryhouse
In 2010, Dinah Washington's voice singing "This Bitter Earth" was remixed with Richter's "On the Nature of Daylight" for the Martin Scorsese film Shutter Island, and the soundtrack was released in January. In July 2010, "On The Nature Of Daylight" and "Vladimir's Blues" were used throughout the BBC Two two-part drama "Dive" co-written by Bafta award winning Dominic Savage and Simon Stevens.
Solo discography
- Memoryhouse (BBC, 2002)
- The Blue Notebooks (Fat Cat Records, 2004)
- Songs from Before (Fat Cat Records, 2006)
- 24 Postcards in Full Colour (Fat Cat Records, 2008)
- Infra (Fat Cat Records, 2010)
Film scores
Impardonnables, 2011, Director: André Téchiné, Film score: Max Richter
Perfect Sense, 2011, Director: David MacKenzie, Film score: Max Richter
How to Die in Oregon 2010, Director: Peter D. Richardson, Film score: Max Richter
Sarah’s Key, 2010, Director: Gilles Paquet-Brenner, Film score: Max Richter
My Trip to Al-Qaeda, 2010, Director: Alex Gibney, Film score: Max Richter
Die Fremde, 2010, Director: Feo Aladağ, Film score: Max Richter und Stéphane Moucha,
The Womb, 2010, Director: Benedek Fliegauf, Film score: Max Richter, Post-production 2010
Die Wilde Farm, 2009, Director: Dominique Garing & Frédéric Goupil, Film score: Max Richter
Lila, Lila, 2009, Director: Alain Gsponer, Book: Martin Suter, Film score: Max Richter
La Prima Linea, 2009, Director: Renato De Maria, Film score: Max Richter
Penelopa, 2009, Director: Brian Ferris, Film score: Max Richter
Waltz with Bashir, 2008, Director: Ari Folman, Film score: Max Richter
Darwin – Notes From A Genius, 2008, Producer: Jeremy Bristow, Film score: Max Richter
Frankie Howerd: Rather You Than Me, Director: John Alexander, Film score: Max Richter
Henry May Long, 2007, Director: Randy Sharp, Film score: Max Richter
Hope, 2007, Director: Stanislav Mucha, Film score: Max Richter
Soundproof, 2006, Director: Edmund Coulthard, Film score: Max Richter